Nydall's Adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom
by SMBplayer
Summary: A Teenage boy accidentally discovers the Mushroom Kingdom and has to find his way back to his world, Along the way, he meets Mario and Luigi, a rather forceful female Yoshi, and learns of a prophecy that only he and said Yoshi can fulfill.
1. Ch 1: An Accidental Discovery

**The Adventures of Nydall In the Mushroom Kingdom**

**Chapter 1: An Accidental Discovery**

**Author's Note: The only reason I put Romance in here is due to bits and pieces of romantic action. This story is not entirely about romance. It will focus more on adventure than anything. Also, this is my first fanfic, so don't be surprised if it sucks. Rated T for cursing and romantic elements, such as (forcible and non-forcible) kissing.**

Hello, everyone! My name is Nydall and I'm a human or Yoshi depending on which dimension I'm in. I actually came there quite accidentally, just like the Mario Bros. Let me start at the beginning.

One day, I decided to take a walk outside my home because I had just got done with my homework. I'm a senior in high school, and a rather unsociable one at that. It's not that I'm a misanthrope, I'm just rather shy. Anyway, back to the point. I was taking a walk around a block in my neighborhood, and I discovered a place I had never been before. I decided to take a look because honestly, why not?

About halfway in, I noticed a strage medallion. It had a Yoshi egg imprinted on it. Thinking that someone lost it, I picked it up, put in on, and reminded myself to take it to the town's Lost and Found later. Eventually, I came upon a clearing with a green, metallic pipe. I wondered what it was, but it looked a lot like the pipes from the Super Mario Bros. Series. I decided to check out the rest of the clearing to see if there was anything else. There was nothing. No item blocks, no brick blocks, Mario, Luigi, anything. Just a solitary pipe, sitting there like it was playing Red Light Green Light on a red light. I decided to take a look into it. However, as I went to do so, I tripped and fell into said pipe! As I saw the sides of the pipe rush by me, I thought "Oh no, where am I headed off to?" I also felt my body changing, as if I was transforming... how odd.

Eventually, I came out of the pipe... from the sky?! "NO, THIS CAN'T BE!" I immediately thought. I wiggled around, trying to do anything to escape falling, and discovered that I was in an egg of some sort. "What is going on?" I thought to myself. I heard the rush of gravity slowly increasing my velocity towards the ground, and I was helpless to get out of this egg. It seemed I was doomed. When I hit the ground, though, all that happened was that the egg cracked. "Really, that's it?" I thought to myself, "I've been through worse, I guess." I had a new problem, though. I had no idea where I was. As I began to survey the landscape, it looked kind of familiar. No way... This couldn't be!

I decided to make my way out of the plain I was in and set out towards a town I saw in the distance. It was about twilight, and I knew I needed to find a place to bunk for the night. Eventually I realized that I wouldn't get to the town, so decided to gather some leaves for a makeshift bed instead. About 5 minutes later, I was ready for the night. I decided to start sleeping.

It seemed like only a few seconds later when woke up, and was refreshed. Judging from the sun, it looked to be around 8 or 9 in the morning. I set out for the village once more and noticed a castle in the distance. So it was! I was in the Mushroom Kingdom! How? That pipe... It couldn't have led here!

I started running toward the town (or city, now that I have a better look at it.) and realized that my tail was flopping. TAIL?! I instantly looked around and saw a green tail. "Why do I have a tail?!" I worried. "I must've hit my head!" I panicked, instantly wondering... "THAT MEDALLION! THAT HAD TO BE IT!" I was still wearing it! I took it off and nothing happened. "So, then, why am I a Yoshi?" I was still wearing my green and black glasses, much to my relief. I also noticed that I was green. "Huh, this couldn't get any weirder." I mused.

I set out once again for the city. By the time I got there it was about noon. Interestingly enough, Yoshis run pretty fast. I got there and decided to ask a Toad about the matter. "Hello. Can I ask you something?" "Sure, ask me anything!" The Toad replied. "I was warped here via a strage pipe, and transformed into a Yoshi. I used to be human. Do you know anything about this?" I explained to the thoughtful Toad. "No, but I think Mario and Luigi may be able to help. Their house is right by Peach's Castle, you can't miss it." he directed me. "Thanks!" I gratifully voiced.

As I made my way to Mario's and Luigi's, I couldn't help but notice some movement. It was very stealthy, so I don't know how I caught it at all. It was there, though. I turned in that general direction, but noticed nothing but bushes. I searched them, but found nothing. "Interesting," I noted. "Someone doesn't want to be noticed." I walked the rest of the way to Mario and Luigi's without incident, and knocked on their door.


	2. Ch 2: No Way Back, Only Forward

**Chapter 2: No Way Back, Only Forward**

"Who's-a there? I hope it's not-a that prankster Goomba, or I'ma gonna stomp you!" Mario shouted as he trodded to the door. "Prankster Goomba? What?" I replied. Mario opened the door and spoke "We've-a had a recent-a Goomba prank recently. He-a stole our power-ups!" "Oooh," I voiced. "Well, I guess I could help you guys get some more. I was wondering, though, if you knew anything about my situation before we go." "Situation? You-a don't look like you're-a in trouble." Mario added. "Yeah, You-a look pretty O.K. to me." Luigi chimed. "It's not that I'm hurt." I remembered. "I accidentally feel into a green pipe that led here, and got turned into a Yoshi in the process. I think this medallion had something to do with it, but when I take it off nothing happens." "That's-a really strage. I've never heard of-a that-a one." Mario perplexedly wondered. "I-a have no idea what to do, sorry." "Me neither" Luigi thoughtfully spoke. "Well, alright. We might as well get those power-ups now." I suggested.

As we were gathering power-ups, I asked "Hey, can I keep some of these" I may need them for the road ahead." "Sure, you can have-a one-third of what we-a gather." Mario accepted. "Thanks!" I gratefully expressed. As we gathered power-ups, I again heard the rustling in the bushes. I immediately caught a glimpse of something… Magenta? "Since when is someone magenta-colored?" I pondered. As I said goodbye to the brothers, I immediately thought of something. "Toadsworth! Can we visit him and see if he has anything?" I asked the bros. "Uhh… sure, but I-a doubt he'll have anything either."

By the time we got to Toadsworth's, it was about 5 or 6 in the afternoon, mainly because of our power-up gathering session. As it turns out, I got 2 or 3 of every canon power-up in Mario. I couldn't thank them enough, but they told me that it was a good payment for the work I put in. Anyway, when we got to Toadsworth, I explained the situation. "Do you have anything at all on this?" I asked "I'm afraid not, Nydall. I would ask Master Mario and Master Luigi to help you, but they obviously need to guard the princess. Best of luck, my boy." Toadsworth apologized "Okay, thanks for trying anyway" I nonchalantly replied. "I might as well go out and adventure." I told them. I then left for what I should would be an easy matter, but was an entirely difficult task: getting home.

As I made my way back to the plain with the pipe, I noticed some koopas jumping about. It was then that I knew a way home. I could eat a blue Koopa's shell! I immediately tried using my tongue, but it was harder than I remember it on Super Mario World. "Well, that's a first. A Yoshi who can't use his tongue." A voice rang out. I immediately shouted "Who's there?!" I searched everywhere. In the trees, bushes, Koopa shells, I didn't let a single rock go unturned. Nobody was there, or at least they knew how to camouflage themselves well.

I then tried again. I found that after a few tries, I could use my tongue pretty effectively. I immediately spit out the living Koopa inside, as I didn't any harm to come to them. "Yes! I can fly!" I exuberated. I started to fly, but I still couldn't get to the pipe, as my flying power ran out before I could get to the pipe. "Dang," I thought as I floated down without harm. "Maybe I can use that Cape Feather" I tried flying up with it as well, but it seemed that the pipe had some sort of barrier protecting it. I even tried using a P-wing, and I still couldn't get through it. I ended up giving up after a little while. There had to be some way to get through it, though!

I immediately thought "What if I have some purpose here? Nah, that couldn't be it. The Mario Bros. are the only heroes that need to be here." I then noticed the rustling of someone in the bushes. "Not again…" I thought. This time, I saw more of the culprit. They were magenta, but they seemed to be wearing brown shoes, like me. Huh. Afterwards, a voice drifted into my head, saying "When in a time of great need the bros. of legend shall fall, and two Yoshi warriors shall save the land." "This was a different voice. Almost as if prophetic," I immediately observed. In the sand, ten marks were made, each with a different design. "Why are there 10 designs? What is this about?" I wondered. "There's got to be a reason for this." I then realized that perhaps they were elemental marks. "There's a drawing of fire, water, air, earth, electricity,grass, light, shadow, life, and death." I noted to myself. "Perhaps these are of some importance in my quest to get out of here."

My first thought after that, though, was to set up a shelter for the night. It was starting to get dark, and I needed a permanent place of rest. I used my tongue and hands to construct a house out of bricks I found lying around. It seemed these were bricks from the blocks the Mario bros. smashed. When I finally had my house done, it was just barely nighttime. I had exhausted myself as well, especially since my physical build isn't the strongest there is. I immediately laid down on some leaves I had found lying around and fell asleep pretty quickly.


	3. Ch 3: A Portable Home

**Chapter 3: A Portable House**

When I woke up in the morning, I immediately thought of something. My house needed to be portable! If it wasn't, I would never be able to get to Mario's house and do research. I knew they didn't have enough beds for another person, so I started panicking! I heard some noise outside and decided to investigate. I noticed that the sun hadn't even come up yet, so I had plenty of time before bedtime. That was okay by me. I needed as much time as I could get!

I then realized that the sound was coming from a racetrack, of all things. I looked over to see Bloopers, Koopas, and Shyguys foot-racing for a monetary prize. I then looked and saw that there was a backpack for the next prize. I walked over and asked an entry booth person "Excuse me, why is there a backpack for the next prize?" "That's not any backpack, that's a Magic Backpack! It has near infinite space, and even comes with a tractor beam function!" the goomba corrected me. I immediately knew that I needed to get that backpack! "How do I enter for it?" He replied "Well, there's usually a 10-coin fee, but if you let me ride on your back then you can enter for free." I agreed wholeheartedly, even though I didn't have a saddle. "Great! I've never rode a Yoshi before. Thank you!" He gratified.

"By the way, you haven't seen a prankster goomba around, have you?" I asked politely. "My brother!" the goomba shouted. "I'll make him give back every power-up he stole! I figured he was up to no good!" "Thanks, that means a lot to me, since those power-ups came from the Marios themselves." "No problem" The goomba clarified. "By the way, you can call me Gaamba. My parents named me that because they wanted me to be different from other Goombas. What's yours?" he questioned. "Nydall is my name. Glad to meet you!" I expressed with a certain amount of happiness.

It was about time for the race to start. I looked around and saw a Magenta Yoshi trying to hide herself in the crowd. The weird part, though, is that we was staring directly at me. She never shifted her attention to anyone else. I immediately looked away so that she wouldn't think I noticed her and studied the map of the course. First we were to run through a dirt road. We then had to execute some parkour over some skinny poles. We then had to swim about 50 meters before we had to run the last 100 meters to the finish line.

I saw Lakitu come down with a stoplight consisting of a 3-way intersection that first turned red. An announcement then came to us "Let me explain the rules. First, no power-ups are to be used, however food is allowed on the course. Second, no fighting with each other is allowed. Third, no vehicles, as this is to be by foot and using what abilities you have. Fourth, have fun! Any of these rules broken will result in a DQ, except for the fourth. Good luck!" Lakitu's light then turned yellow. I got ready for the race, and noticed that my only competitor was a green koopa. "You've got this." Gaamba reassured me. The light then turned green, and we were off.

The koopa was pretty fast! I knew that at this rate, I couldn't win. He reached the poles first and started jumping. I immediately realized that this was where I could catch up. As I neared the poles, I jumped and flutter-jumped to the next one, effectively bypassing the koopa. He looked rather frustrated, and tried using his shell to boost himself. This resulted in his falling down and having to climb up the ladder at the end. I was ahead!

I started the swimming segment with the koopa about 20 meters away from me. As it turns out, he wasn't that efficient in water either. I was ahead by about 50 meters by the time we both got out of the pool. When I was 20 meters from the finish line, however, that koopa started gaining on me like there was no tomorrow. It was obvious that they wanted that magic backpack. Just as I crossed the finish line, the koopa caught up to me. "It's a photo finish!" was announced, and I saw that I had just _barely_ won.

"Hey, good match! By the way, my name's Quick!" he introduced himself. I immediately realized… No way! "You too!" I responded. "By the way, were you the same Koopa the Quick that Mario faced off against?" "The very same!" he replied. "You're pretty swift on land!" I praised. "Yeah, but I obviously need to work on my jumping and swimming build. You know, for your build, you're not a half bad jumper or swimmer." Quick modestly spoke. "I guess we all have our strengths and weaknesses." I voiced back. "Anyway, see you later!"

Gaamba decided this was a good time to get off and gratified himself once again "Thank you for letting me ride on your back! That was exhilarating!" "No problem," I replied. "I figured that if it meant that much to you, I'd let you do it. Besides, I had no money." I immediately started off towards my house, rather pleased with the events of today.

I eventually got back to my house, and decided to store it in my Magic Backpack and set out for the Marios' house again to tell them about the voice.


	4. Ch 4: Lydia Reveals Herself

**Chapter 4: Lydia Reveals Herself**

About halfway there, the magenta Yoshi from the racetrack jumped out of some bushes, and slowly inched towards me. I was suddenly paralyzed. I immediately saw on her chest that there was a magenta Yoshi medallion, just like mine. "What the…" I wondered. "No way! That medallion! She has one, just like me!" She made her way to me, and began to lean in. I started sweating, and wondered what her motives were for this. I immediately realized it when she started to extend her arms so as to hug me.

I immediately started to run, and she followed me. She looked very determined to get to me. I turned left and right, but I couldn't escape her. Eventually, she cornered me in an enclosed alleyway in the forest. I feared the worst, and began to look for a way out. I saw only one, but I'd have to get past her first. This was _not _looking good.

Once again, she leaned in and motioned her arms to hug me. I backed up as far as I could, when I realized that she had left her underside completely unblocked. I immediately ducked under her and headed for a vine behind her. Her reaction was to pin me down using her body weight. "No!" I thought to myself. She then leaned in close to my face and whispered "Nice moves back there. You were pretty smart with that blue shell. Using your flutter jump was pretty smart as well. And to keep away from me for that long, you had to be pretty determined. By the way, my name's Lydia."

My first thought was of relief. "Well, um, I'm glad that's what you wanted. My name's, uh, Nydall. For a moment there I ,um, thought that you wanted to-" I was immediately cut off with a kiss. I'll admit, she was a pretty good kisser. However, that still didn't change the fact that I didn't want one in the first place. I pulled away and angrily fumed "Hey, I didn't want a kiss! That's exactly what I thought you wanted to do! Grr!" "Well, I usually get what I want, even if I have to force it out of people." She calmly cooed. "By the way, you're the first." She winked at me, and proceeded to get off of me

Let me tell you, the first thing I did was run for the hills. She started once again to chase after me. I realized I could never outmaneuver her, since she was faster than me. My only choice was to camouflage myself against something. I immediately took a left turn, and in the instant of time I had before she turned, silently hid myself in the bushes. She dashes straight past me. "Yes!" I thought. "I finally lost her!" In the distance, I heard Lydia shout "Damn you, Nydall! I _will _find you!"

I once again set out for the Marios' House, using plenty more caution than before. I made sure to check around every corner, but nothing of incident happened. I finally reached the Marios' House, and once again knocked on their door.


	5. Ch 5: An Ancient Prophecy

**Chapter 5: An Ancient Prophecy**

Mario answered the door. "Nydall! It's-a great to see you!" Mario joyfully exclaimed at the sight of me. "We heard about your recent run-in with that goombas' brother! Thank you-a very much for your-a help!" "Ah, it was nothing," I replied. "I just asked around, that's all." "Can we-a help you?" Luigi asked. "Well, you can certainly get to the point, Luigi" I responded. "I had a voice tell me that one day you guys would fail, and two Yoshis would save the kingdom. Do you guys know anything about this?" Both Mario's and Luigi's mouth dropped to the floor. "That is an ancient prophecy!" They exclaimed. Mario then explained "It –a says that there are 10 Power Orbs, each-a enabling control over-a certain element. It is-a spoken that if one gathers them all, they –a would become invincible! However, only Yoshis have-a been able to get into the temples. No-a Yoshi wanted to go into those temples, so-a nobody got ahold of them. You must-a be one of the Yoshis!"

"No!" I fitfully voiced. "I can't be one of the Yoshis! I need to get home! Besides, who would the other Yoshi be?" "Hmm… That's a good question" Luigi mused. "Wait. There was another Yoshi with a medallion. No! Oh please no!" I worriedly spoke, "It can't be her!" Both pondered at the same time, "Who?" "Lydia!" I quickly explained the situation to the Mario Bros. Mario added "I'll be she is-a the other Yoshi. She's-a the only other Yoshi with a medallion!" Luigi noted as well "Daisy was the same-a way at first. You may have a fight on your hands. I eventually-a learned to love Daisy, but that was-a because of time. Anyway, you should probably-a head toward one of-a the temples of the Orbs now. I would-a recommend the Life temple first, since you probably can't die there. It's about 10 kilometers north."

"Alright, thanks for the advice. My only qualm is, how do I deal with Lydia?" I expressed to the brothers. "Hmm… maybe you could-a work something out with her." Mario idealized. "If that doesn't work, you'll-a probably have to avoid her and-a do the temples without-a her." Luigi advised. "Alright, I'll try to keep that in mind." I voiced back unassuredly. "Anyway, thanks for the explanation" "You're-a welcome!" They whole-heartedly replied. "We're-a glad to help!" I exited their house and concentrated on the task ahead: Getting to the temple in one piece.


	6. Ch 6: Journey to the Life Temple

**Chapter 6: Journey to the Life Temple**

By the time I had finished talked to the Mario bros. It was noon again. I guess I had no need for that Magic Backpack anyway, at least right now. "Oh well. I guess I can just use it on the road." I figured to myself. I ended up travelling north like Luigi pointed me, and I estimate that I got about 2 kilometers before the real fun started beginning. I had some mushroom kingdom enemies to dispatch.

The first enemies I faced were 2 Hammer Bros. "What are you doin' here? We're not going to let you pass!" They angrily said in unison. About a second after that, they started throwing hammers at me. I kept dodging them, and I had an idea. "What if I threw their hammers back?" I immediately gobbled one of their hammers (which felt rather coarse in my mouth, I've gotta say) and shot it back at him. When it hit, he fainted. "No! my bro! You're going to pay for this!" The other one flared. He started storming me with hammers, eventually hitting me with a few. It hurt like a glitch, but I had to keep going. Eventually, I got tired out from deflecting his hammers with ones I had eaten. I desperately needed help.

Well, help came in the most unwanted way possible. Lydia suddenly leaped out and stomped the Hammer Bro, sending him into unconsciousness. "So, ready to apologize now?" She demanded. "Why should I apologize? I didn't want that kiss in the first place, you knew that!" I retorted. Slowly she approached me and smiled devilishly. "You can say that you didn't want it all you want, but I saw the look on your face." She joshed. "What look? The one of pure surprise I gave?" I replied in disbelief. Eventually, she had gotten so close to me that I could feel her breath. She whispered in my ear "No, the one you gave me at the start of the race. It was of curiosity. You know what they say about that, right?"

At this point, I was starting to be rather creeped out. As she tried to grab at me, instinct kicked in and I dodged. "You know you can't escape me!" she yelled, and chased after me. I think we ran like that the rest of the way to the Life temple. I barely stayed ahead due to an adrenaline rush. When we arrived, I realized that I would have to take her with me. There were 2 pressure plates with Yoshi shoe imprints. As soon as I had ran out in the open, she pinned me down again. "Not again…" I thought. "I thought I told you that you couldn't get away!" she roared. "Well, as much as you would like for me to believe that, I will _always_ try, no matter what." I responded rather vehemently.

For what seemed like the millionth time, she leaned in to kiss me. I quickly swerved my head to the left to avoid doing so. She was ready for me, thought, and turned her head left as well. I turned my head right in response, and she copied me again. I ended up doing the only thing I could at the moment: Lift up on my body. It worked, as she was forced off of me. "Look, forced kissing aside, why are you wearing a Yoshi medallion too?" I questioned "Like you want to know." She retorted. "All you seem to want is to get away from me." "The only reason I looked at you was to see who you were, so you were right about the curiosity thing. However, I'm more curious about how you got that medallion."

"Fine." She exasperated. "I'll tell you." "I was wandering around in a clearing, minding my own business, when I saw 2 Yoshi-egg engraved medallions. They were green and magenta. Thinking they were pretty cool, I picked them both up and intended to keep them. However, I tripped over a rock and dropped one of them, as well as accidentally using a Green Pipe to enter the Mushroom Kingdom. I was dropped from the sky, and if it wasn't for the egg I was trapped in, I wouldn't have survived." My jaw dropped to the floor in amazement. "You literally said almost word-for-word my entrance into the Mushroom Kingdom. I tried to get back, but to no avail." I replied. "I never thought of it, mainly because I love it here!" she exclaimed back at me. "I thought you would too." "Well, I do, but I have friends on the other side that I know would miss me." I stated. "Well, I do too, but if I can't get back, what's the point?" she spoke. "Well, good point. By the way, why do you like me so much?" I asked.

"Well, if you really want to know, you're pretty intelligent. You also have a certain 'glow' that most guys don't have, and you just generally care for others." She immediately started inching closer again. "Why do you seem to avoid me everywhere you go? Do you think I'm _that _unattractive?" "Not at all," I answered. "You're actually quite pretty, but I'm just not looking for a relationship now. Well, can you help me get inside of the Life Temple?" I questioned her. She immediately smiled and started laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked. "You wanted nothing to do with me earlier, and now you need me. That's freakin' hilarious!" She humored. "I'll do it on one condition: Kiss me willingly." "Are you kidding me?" I expressed. "You know I'll never do so. Besides, we both know blackmail is wrong!" "Alright, I guess you won't ever get into that temple then…" Lydia reminded me. "Just watch" I added.

I started to put stones in them to increase the weight. When I thought I had enough, I placed them on the pressure plate. It went about halfway down, but even though I stood on the other pressure plate, the ancient door didn't activate. I was a little angry at this point, but I was determined to get my way. I kept piling rocks until it pushed the pressure plate all of the way down. It still didn't activate. I my hoped of getting in without Lydia were crushed. I sighed and wished I never tripped down the pipe.

"Alright, I will, but just this once. Not a wordto _anyone_." I fumed. As she leaned in for the kiss, I couldn't help but wonder at her determination and beauty. As she kissed me, my cheeks started getting hot from embarrassment. She was pretty cool for a Yoshi, I suppose. Even so, I made sure the kiss didn't last too long. I pulled away, and she stepped on the pressure plate while I put my shoes again. "You know, you shouldn't have blackmailed me." I reiterated. "You know you liked it." She retorted. "I did not!" I exclaimed. "Then tell me why you're blushing so much." She repeated. "I…. I just don't like being blackmailed that much!" I exclaimed. "Keep telling yourself that." She continued. "One day or another you'll realize you've liked me too."

The door finally opened, revealing the entrance to the Life Temple. "Finally," I thought. "There's something to finally take my mind off of her taunting and teasing."


	7. Ch 7: The Life Temple

**Chapter 7: The Life Temple**

As we entered the life temple, the first thing I noticed was that there was a certain _aura_ in the air. It was as if the entire palace was alive. The second thing I observed was that there was a gigantic maze. The worst part is that it was continuously moving, as if it was alive as well. A sign read "If you can clear this puzzle of the moving maze, you shall receive the Orb of Life, required for the Death Temple."

"Well, I guess we should split up, then, right?" I suggested politely. "Not on your life, not after what we just went through" Lydia countered. "You just made my day, and already you wanna get away from me? No way!" "But, if we split up, we would-"I was cut off by Lydia. "The answer is no. I don't want to split up, okay?" "Fine, have it your way. You're going to regret this later." I grunted. As we started to enter the maze, I realized something. We do have our flutter jumps, right? An idea started to form in my head as a back-up plan. We t first took a left, followed by a right, and then another left. Hours later, we were still in the maze. "Why is this taking so long?" Lydia complained. "I think I know why. The maze itself is alive. It knows where we're going and will continually make changes to ensure that we don't get the Power Orb. If I give you a boost up, can you pull me up?" I questioned, knowing the inevitable answer. "Sure, I can do that." She replied. "Woah, she just agreed? That's not what I expected." I pondered.

As I boosted her up, her reason for agreeing became clear. After she jumped off my hands and flutter-jumped to the top of the maze, she instantly turned around and held her arms out in a hugging motion. "Here we go again." I realized. I flutter-jumped into her open arms and she hugged me for all it was worth. After that, we spied that we were at the entrance. "It's just as I thought." I announced. "We're at the entrance." "Really? No wonder we're taking hours to do this." She responded with a stoic attitude. "Let's go get that first Orb then!" I shouted with enthusiasm. "Alright, whatever you say." Lydia agreed. As we headed for the Orb, the maze shifted and turned as much as humanly possible to try to trick us, but if one of us fell off the other pulled the first up.

Finally, we got to the end of the maze. "I expected that have a lot more challenge, honestly." I wondered out loud. As we approached the chest, it started floating. "I may have said that too early." I retracted. As the chest floated around the room, we tried our best to catch it. We eventually pinned it between us, but it escaped and led to our collision. While I was rather surprised, Lydia held on for dear life. "Go figure, I should've expected that." I thought. As we crashed on the floor, I realized we had absolutely no way to capture the chest. We needed to team up on it, but how? When it can sense our every move… That's it!

"Lydia, can you fake a left?" I wondered. Happy to obey, she faked left and the chest started heading right, right into her open arms. "That was way easier than we made it out to be." She expressed. "Well, that may be true. Let's get the Orb, shall we?" I prodded. "Yeah, sure. Catch." She threw the orb to me, and I caught it and put it into my magic backpack. "Alright, let's head back out."

As we exited the room with the Orb in it, a voice chimed "You really didn't think we would let you have it _that_ easily, did you?" Immediately the walls started closing in on us. Lydia immediately screamed "Get us _out _of here!" "I'm on it." I coolly reassured. I immediately took out a few Super Leaves. "Eat this." I commanded. "_Are you out of your mind!?_ How can you think of food?" she demanded. "Just do it…" I exasperated. After we both ate the leaves, we then flew out of the cavern just as the walls closed in.

"That was close" I complained. "Yeah, no kidding" Lydia added. "For a moment there I thought I was going to have to hug you again… Maybe I should've." I immediately backed away. "See you later, I guess?" I asked. "Sure, but remember we'll meet again." Lydia responded. As she took off through the brush, I figured I should start heading to the Marios' house. It was starting to get dark though, so I popped my brick house out of my backpack and fell asleep on my pile of leaves in minutes.


	8. Ch 8: Back to The Bros House

**Chapter 8: Back to the Bros. House**

**Authors' Note: I plan on only releasing one or two chapter a day now because of school. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.**

As I awakened, I immediately noticed a presence next to me. I opened my eyes and discovered it was none other than Lydia herself, sleeping beside me. "Wow, she must really like me to sleep by me all night." I mused. I picked her up and carried her outside, careful not to wake her. I figured she could use some more sleep. I used my tractor beam to put my house away, and then set off toward the Marios' House. As I travelled, I looked up at the sky and noticed that I had overslept, as it was noon. I travelled overtime and encountered a squadron of Goombas due to my overexertion.. As I stomped them one by one, I yet again heard the rustling of bushes. "Oh no, I better hurry over to the Marios'!" raced through my head. As if on cue, Lydia burst out of the bushes ready to full-on tackle me. I instantly started running, jumping, and doing anything I could to dodge her.

At first, it didn't seem like she was trying that hard. She never really tried to tackle me, and then I realized why: she was tiring me out! It was working as well, because I was pooped. I figured we were about halfway to the Marios' before I was ready to sit down. She got continually faster from that point onward until she started actually trying to tackle me. The first time failed, the second barely nicked me. The third one was the charm, however, and I was knocked to the ground. Instead of yelling at me, though, she let her eyes do the talking. I could clearly see her anger through them. "Kiss. Now."

I turned my head away from hers. "No." I refused. "There's no way I'm going through that again. You'll have to completely exhaust me before you can even attempt to." "Fine, have it your way." She responded. She leaned in, and I turned my head again. We went on fir this for 10 minutes, until my neck finally got tired. I thought "Dang, she really is persistent. I thought I was going to get out of this one." As her lips headed toward my face, I had the strength to turn my head one last time. I had an idea at that moment. I decided to bury my face into the ground and put my paws over it, so she couldn't kiss me. She responded by flipping me over and growling "Oh no, you don't. I didn't come all this way just to give up!" I prepared for the worst. As our lips touched, the only thing I could think of was how hilarious this was. Imagine, someone chasing after me just to do _this_, of all things.

The worst part is, once it was over, she just took off. She didn't say anything. She just ran into the woods. "Okay… why?" I thought. "Why would she do that, just to take off again?" She made no sense sometimes. This was not like her. I knew she wouldn't just take off like that! As I pondered what her motives were, I eventually reached and entered the Mario Bros' House. They welcomed me with open arms. "Did you-a get the Life Orb?" Luigi asked. "Yeah, something about it that doesn't fit well with me." I voiced out loud. "What-a do you mean?" Mario wondered. "Every time I enter a temple, I'm going to need Lydia's help." I explained what happened at the Life Temple to the Mario Bros. "Oh, that's-a gonna be tough." Mario stated. "What else is new?" I worried. "Oh well, at least you can-a get to-a know her better." Luigi responded. "Anyway, you're next temple will-a be the Death Temple, since-a you now have the Life Orb. It's-a few kilometers west of the Life Temple."

"Why don't you just make a map of these?" I pondered out loud. "We didn't want-a these to fall into Bowser's hands." Mario stated. "Oh well. I guess I'll head off to the Death Temple now." "We'll have a map ready by the time-a you get back, so you don't have to come-a back here." Mario told me. "Thanks!" I gratified to Mario. "However, we-a have one request." Luigi mentioned. "Yeah? What is it?" "When you-a get back, can we go with-a you?" Mario asked. "Uhh, sure." I responded. "What about Peach, thought?" "Toadsworth will-a make sure she's safe. Great! Glad we can-a help, then!" Mario bellowed exuberantly. It was then that I noticed someone peering in the window. No way…. It was none other than Lydia herself! I should've known she was up to something! "That little spy!" I huffed in my mind. "Man, I'm going to have to watch my step." "Alright, I should probably get going now." "So-a soon?" Luigi asked. "Haven't you a-eaten yet?" My stomach growled at the mention of food. "I guess I could go for a meal, it it's not too much trouble."

We ended up going out at the Pizzashroom Palace. Mario decided he would have a mushroom pizza, and Luigi decided on meat lovers. I asked if they had pineapple pizza. "Sure" the waitress replied. There was something familiar about her, but I couldn't place it. Something about her shoes and eyes told me so. "Pineapple, huh? I thought you were originally a human." Mario pondered, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Well, I have this instinct for fruit now for some reason." I answered. "I just seem to love it a lot more than usual." "Well, the last time I met a Yoshi, he couldn't get enough fruit. I guess it's a specie trait." Luigi added.

After they were finished eating, the Mario bros. exited the restaurant. Something had kept me there other than my pizza. "I haven't run into Lydia in a while" I mused. "Something's up" As I finished my pizza, I brushed myself off and went to exit the restaurant and found the waitress by the door. "Have a good meal?" She asked. "Yeah! It was pretty great!" I praised. "Well, bye then, Nydall." I was immediately paralyzed. How did she know my name? She took this chance to give me a quick peck on the cheek and added "Fooled you, didn't I?" My cheeks turned hot and I objected "Lydia? Why would you go through such trouble to find me?" "Well, I didn't want to miss out on your meal. You remember what I said? I _always_ get what I want."

I quickly exited out of fear of being tormented more by Lydia and caught up with the Mario Bros. "Hey, what took-a you so long?" Luigi questioned. "Sorry, personal business came up." I responded. "Anyway, thank you for the lunch. I'll see you guys later?" "Sure thing!" both bros. answered. What I didn't know was that my a** was about to be saved again from trouble on the journey to the Death Temple.


	9. Ch 9: The Trapped Tree

**Chapter 9: The Trapped Tree**

I decided to set out for the Death Temple since it was about 3 or 4 already. As my shoes padded through the soft grass, I thought about how Lydia always seemed to appear at the most unexpected moments. I thought about it for a while and eventually made my way to the Dark Temple.

As I saw the door to the Death Temple, I immediately backed up…right into a trap! A rope fell from the tree that I had passed under only moments ago and bound me tighter than yarn on a spool of thread. I instantly groaned at the thought of having to make my way out of the trap, or what Lydia would do if the saw me like this. What had made me recoil, you say? The _Grim Reaper_ itself was the door. As I tried to bite my way out of the trap, I looked for a place to hide. I noticed nothing but the tree around… except for a small indenture into the ground. "That'll have to do," I figured and crawled over to it. As much as I was biting the rope, it seemed to wrap itself tighter. Eventually I could barely breathe, so I stopped biting. I sighed to myself. "Why, of all the ways to go out, does it have to be like this?" I complained to myself.

After a while of just sitting there, I felt a paw on my back. I knew instantly who it was, and closed my eyes while hoping she would go away. "So there you are!" Lydia sang. "I've been looking all over for you. By the way, what happened? You look like you're about to pass out." "If you can't notice, I'm all bound up here, and yes I am." "Hehehe… I could have some fun with this." Lydia taunted. My eyes started to open wide with fear. "You wouldn't." I bluffed. "Try me." Lydia heartily replied.

5 minutes later I was hanging up in the tree, suspended there by the same rope. Lydia was beaming from ear to ear. " I have a little surprise for you, Nydall." Lydia shined. "Alright, what is it?" I asked, too occupied with hanging from a rope to try and guess. Lydia slowly held up a feather. I immediately know what was coming and braced myself. When she starting tickling me I tried to resist, but to no avail. I bust out laughing as hard as I could. "Please, stop!" I begged. "What's the magic word?" Lydia shined. "Please?" I whined. "Nope, that's not it." Lydia tormented. "You probably remember my original reason for coming here."

"Not on your life!" I yelled. "Well, then I guess I'll have to keep tickling." As I resisted giving in, the feather tickled my abdomen once more. After about 5 to 10 minutes, I couldn't resist anymore. "Alright! Alright! Fine! You win! I'll freakin' kiss you!" "Not kiss me," Lydia spoke. "I want you to go out on a date with me." I instantly regretted my mistake of being trapped in the net. "Alright, forcible kissing is one thing, but I already told you that I'm not looking for a relationship." I refused. "Well, okay then, keep being tickled." Lydia retorted. As the feather approached me, I struggled to get out of the rope. This caused the strain to become so intense that it squeezed me unconscious.

When I woke up, I was untied and it was starting to become the evening. I was also lying on the ground, with Lydia preforming mouth-to-mouth on me. "You didn't have to do that." I weakly reassured. "I wasn't planning on dying" "But your heart rate started to drop" Lydia protested. "I didn't want you to die, obviously." Then, without warning, she swiftly reached her arms out and bear hugged me. I was quite surprised. "Hey, this is new." I thought aloud. "Just don't put yourself at risk like that again." Lydia warned, her voice rather shaken. She stared into my eyes and all I could see in them was pain and worry. "Well, I'll try not to." I promised.

As Lydia helped me up I realized that maybe I was being too harsh on her. After all, she was a person too. I unpacked my house outside of my Magic Backpack and Lydia's stomach growled. "I'm guessing you haven't had anything to eat since we first met, huh?" I wondered. "Yes, I have, but they've been small. I was too busy following you around." Lydia meekly replied. "Alright, you stay here. I'll go and get some berries , and maybe some more comfortable bedding." I offered. "But you're so weak! You can't go out in that condition! Lydia protested. "My wwind's starting to come back, but I see your point. If I don't come back in 20 minutes, come after me. If I'm collapsed on the ground, you can do whatever to me tomorrow." I gambled. "But-" Lydia started to speak. "I said I'm going." I reinstated, cutting her off.

As I exited the house, I wondered where any berries might be. It was hard to see because it was so late. I spotted a red shell, ate it, spit out the koopa inside, found a broken tree branch, and lit it on fire to make a makeshift torch. I was relieved I could see now. "Know where to find some berries?" I deliberated. "There have to be some around here." As I searched bush after bush, the coarse branches scratching my arms a bit, I found a berry bush. I picked the berries and put them in the front pocket in my Magic Backpack. "Hmm… there were only a few on there. I need more" I worried. I decided to gaze up and discovered that I had really picked the berries off a sapling of a tree. I saw many berries up in the trees. "Awesome!" I thought to myself, picking enough for a few meals.

As I made my way back, I realized that I was a few minutes late by my self-imposed deadline. "Oh, no. I need to hurry back, or.." My thoughts were interrupted by my tackling, courtesy of Lydia. "I knew it!" she screamed at me. "You planned on leaving me in the dark again!" "If you're really that paranoid, then I feel kind of sorry for you." I blurted back. "Did you just call me… PARANOID?!" Lydia trumpeted as she backhanded my cheek. "I've woken up to burglars before. I've had more than my fair share of danger in this world. Don't you _ever_ call me paranoid again." "I'm simply stating the truth. If you ever slap me again, I'll make you regret it." I retorted. "I was just coming back to the house when you tackled me, so could you please get off?" "Fine, but no funny business or I'll pin you down again" Lydia demanded.

As we stepped through the forest, I wondered how Lydia survived when she wondered about how _everything_ in her life could go wrong. It seemed like it would slow someone down. I was so lost in thought, I accidentally walked into my own wall. "Ow, I can't believe I walked into my own wall." I talked as Lydia giggled. "Well, I must've startled you pretty badly then." Lydia assumed. As Lydia sat down, I unpacked half the Goomba-sized berries I had found in the forest and halved those as well. "Here. I guess this is supper." I nonchalantly offered. "Thanks!" Lydia thanked as she bit into one. As we both ate, Lydia slowly inched her way toward me. I didn't notice her until she was right beside me and I could feel her breath.

"You know, this has been a pretty good night, in my opinion." Lydia whispered. "I guess. It's just like any other night except I got tackled." I responded. "Yeah, sorry about that back there." She grabbed my paw, and I wondered what she was up to. "I like how you think that I'm really just going to give up because you think you don't like me." She said with a stoic face. "Think? Lydia, I already told you, I don't want-" I was cut off by her forcing her mouth onto mine yet again. My cheeks instantly turned blood-red and I backed away. "Why do you always kiss me like that?! I already told you I don't like it!" I angrily shouted. "I do it because every time I do, I see that bit of curiosity and brightening in your eyes. You're starting to blush as well. You might want to sort out your emotions, Nydall." Lydia attempted to explain. "Just because I blush doesn't mean I like you. What if the roles were reversed? You'd blush as well!" I countered. "You have a point." Lydia accepted. "But have you ever considered that maybe it's due to some form of attraction? There's a reason why people blush, you know." "There's a clear difference between attraction and confusion, and I'm generally known to blush at both times." I answered. "Fine, keep denying it. One day, thought, you'll realize that you do like me." Lydia called back. "And when you do, I'll be here to receive you." I slipped my paw away from Lydia's and shot back "Good night. I'm going to bed."

I got up as calmly as I could and treaded to the leaf pile, realizing that I forgot to get more comfortable bedding. As I started to fall asleep, I felt Lydia's body weight against mine. "Someday, Nydall." She whispered into my ear as she wrapped her arm around my body. I was too half-asleep to really care, so I went with it.

That night, I kept having weird dreams about Lydias trapping me from all directions and demanding that I go out with them all whilst trying to pin me down. I kept dodging them as they "POOF!"'ed away, only for more to appear. Eventually, there were two left. One caught me and held me in place while the other one slowly started to come my way. That's when I woke up and marveled at what I saw.


	10. Ch 10 : Cloned to Death

**Chapter 10: Cloned to "Death"**

I woke up to see that there were about 6 copies of Lydia hanging around the room, sleeping. I wondered what had happened. I then realized that there exited a specie of berries that actually made copies of the user. I then realized that if Lydia had 6 copies then I have copies as well. I looked around and sure enough, my copies stared me straight in the face! "Copies, huh? I never knew Copy Berries actually grew on trees." I muttered to myself. As I tried to exit the house with my copies to find more food, we ended up making enough noise to wake the Lydia copies up. My copies and I hurried out and turned to face the Death Temple with the Grim Reaper entrance. I spied an inscription next to the Reaper which read "To proceed with this temple, you must have the Light Orb and tell someone a secret that scares you to death."

"WHY AM I EVERYWHERE!?" I heard Lydia exclaim from the house. She and her copies rushed out the door and tackled my copies and I, only to have them disappear except for me. As Lydia and her clones piled on me, I attempted to explain: "I think we may have eaten Copy Berries. They produce clones of their users." "Can you repeat that? I couldn't hear you!" Lydia mouthed. "I SAID THEY WERE COPY BERRIES, AND THEY MAKE CLONES OF YOU! ALSO, CAN YOU PLEASE GET OFF OF ME? IT'S QUITE UNCOMFORTABLE DOWN HERE." I bellowed back. When Lydia's clones lifted themselves off of me, I decided to tell Lydia about the inscription on the wall. "Don't laugh at me for this." Lydia warned, "But I'm afraid of grasshoppers." "Grasshoppers? That's _really _weird." I responded. "Well, at least… at least…" My cheeks started getting red from embarrassment as I tried to say my fear. "At least you aren't afraid of relationships." I finally spat out.

As the Grim Reaper faded away, Lydia's eyes started opening as wide as dinner plates. "You're afraid of _relationships_ of all things? Why?" Lydia pondered. "Well, it's just that I'm afraid I'll be a bad date." I replied. "You see, that's why I like you. You try to be considerate of others, even if you miss out on some things." Lydia reassured. "Besides, you know practice makes perfect." Lydia winked at me after she played that card, and I recoiled out of a mix of confusion and surprise. "Let's just go in the temp-" I started to suggest, but go cut off by a pillar that almost crushed me into a pulp after I walked a few feet inside. "Man, they don't call it a Death Temple for nothing." I whistled. Startled, Lydia and her clones stopped dead in their tracks right behind me. "What do we do now?" Lydia wondered. "Well, we could always use your clones…" I proposed. "That's right! I forgot about them!" Lydia remembered.

As Lydia used her clones to set off death traps one by one, an obstacle course of sorts started to form. When her remaining clone finally got to the end of the room, a wooden log smashed it and made it poof out of existence. Lydia and I then hopped over axes, spike walls, and various other revealed traps to the room with the chest in it. "Wow, they seriously don't want you to get that Orb." I declared as I stopped just short of a bottomless pit. "The chest is way over there!" I pointed to the chest at the other end of the room, which was about 100 feet away. "We already used up the Super Leaves, and we don't have the room to run to get back with the Raccoon Leaves. I want to use a P-wing, but I'm not sure which kind they are." Lydia stated. I mused for a bit, and then had an idea. "Get the Ice Flowers out for me, please." I commanded. After she handed them to me, I ate one and placed the other in her hand. "Eat it." I directed. After she ate it, Lydia asked "How are these going to help us?" "I'm glad you asked, Lydia." I placed my paw on her paw and then guided them to the floor. "If we combine our ice powers, I bet we could build a sturdy enough bridge to get over to that chest."

"Good idea!" Lydia complimented. As we made the ice bridge, I noticed Lydia's slight embarrassment from my paw being on hers and laughed on the inside. "She really must like me if a single paw touch can make her blush." I commented to myself. When the ice bridge was done, I pulled my paw away from hers and started across the bridge. Lydia ended up running a little too much to catch up to me and bowled into me, causing both of us to fall around each other. "Oops." Lydia apologized. I stood myself back up and reached for the chest of which opened up by itself. The Death Orb floated out and into my paw. After that, my senses went blank.

I woke up to a weeping Lydia holding up the Life Orb beside it. "I guess that Orb makes whoever holding it die for their duration of holding it unless counteracted by the Light Orb." She sobbed. "Why are you crying?" I asked, unaware that my senses had left and returned. "You almost DIED after holding that orb. The only way I knew how to save you was by holding the Life Orb beside you." Lydia cried. "It's okay, I'm here to stay now." I assured her as I put the Death Orb into the Magic Backpack. She didn't seem convinced, so I reached out and hugged her. "It's going to be alright." I reiterated. She immediately tensed up at my hug loosening and smiling. I let go of her to exit and I realized that that truly was the first time I had cared about her more than a friend (although I didn't think of her as a girlfriend.). As we exited the temple, I could almost feel the ray of happiness coming off of Lydia.

"Jolly good job getting that Orb, Nydall and Lydia!" Toadworth's voice boomed. "Woah" I yelled in confusion. "Where are you?" "Under your foot!" Toadsworth answered. I looked under my foot to find a small speaker-like device attached to it and took it off. "When did I get this?" I questioned. "I had Masters Mario and Luigi slip it on you in the restaurant. It will allow me to talk to you and give you hints about the Mushroom Kingdom. You may want to stay put, by the way. Master Mario and Master Luigi are heading your way." Toadsworth counseled. "Thanks for the advice!" I gratefully answered. "No need to thank me, I'm just doing my job." Toadsworth reminded me.

As I walked back to the house, I noticed Lydia was gone. "Where could Lydia have gone off to?" deliberated. "Oh well, it's not like she's going to-" Lydia immediately jumped out of the bushes beside me and pinned me against the wall. "I may have thought too quickly." I reflected. Lydia decided to grab my arms and drag me into the house. "What are you doing with me?" I inquired. "We're going to eat lunch." Lydia returned as she sat me down in the chair. "Geez, you didn't have to be so forceful about it. It was about noon, so I would have taken out the berries if you wanted." I stated, only to find that they were already divided up into piles. "Well, you were taking forever." Lydia countered. We sat down and ate.


	11. Ch 11: A Hidden Power

**Chapter 11: A Hidden Power**

When we were done eating, I realized that without being able to return to Mario's house we had nothing to do. If we returned to Peach's Castle, we'd only complicate the Marios' trip. "Well, I have no idea what to do now that we can't return to the Marios. Any suggesitons?" I offered. "Well, you could always go out for a date with me." Lydia requested. "I already told you, I'm not interested in relationships." I told her. "Also, why are your clones looking at me like that?" I pondered. "TACKLE THEM!" Lydia shouted as her clones eliminated mine. I quickly dodged out of the way as Lydia tried to tackle me.

I dashed out of the house as quickly as I could, Lydia and her clones trailing close behind. I decided to try climbing a tree by using my floating double jump. At first I was successful, but Lydia and her clones tried to rock the tree, and I almost fell out. I hung on for dear life as one of the few Lydias climbed the tree herself, float hopping from one branch to another. I jumped off of the branch I was on to avoid the clone's grip, only to bounce off of another's head. I hit the ground and started running as the other 5 clones chased after me.

I ran around the corner to the house and jumped up on the wall. I then wall jumped and float jumped on top (just barely, as it was some 20 feet tall). Unfortunately, Lydia's clones had an easy time of it because they boosted themselves up and then pulled up the rest. I started to panic as my breath started to become faster, signaling that I was growing tired. I knew that if I couldn't outrun Lydia, I'd be powerless to stop her from doing whatever she wanted with me. I took a leap of faith off of my house and landed… In a pit.

As it turns out, Lydia had left one of her clones to dig a hole to try to chase me into. As Lydia and her clones looked at me from below, I hollered "Why?! Why are you doing this to me?!" "You know why. You've always known why, Nydall. If fact, this will be the third or fourth time I've forced it now." Lydia yelled back. "No, please, not again!" I pleaded. Lydia's clones jumped down, one by one, and pinned down each on my individual body parts except for my head. As Lydia grew closer, I realized that the Marios would be there soon, if they'd already left the night before.

As if on cue, I was lifted out of the clones' grip and placed down outside of the pit. Lydia's clones stacked themselves up to get Lydia out of the pit, and she pulled them out. "How did you get out?!" Lydia demanded. "Nydall, you-a owe us one for sure this-a time!" Mario answered. "Yeah, you're lucky we-a decided to use our Raccoon Leaves." Luigi added. "Thank you both." I responded. "Without you guys, I definitely would've been forced to date for the first time in my life."

"No-a problem!" Mario humbly reacted. "Would not, you know it would've been a kiss!" Lydia angrily puffed. "Either way, the brothers saved me." I spoke. "Anyway, did you guys bring the map?" "Well-uh, we-a did… sort of." Luigi voiced back. "The map we-a made is kinda approximate." Mario supplemented. "Well, that's okay, as long as we have the general area of the temples." I commented. "Hey, what about that kiss!? We're not done here!" Lydia butted in. "Yes. WE. **_ARE_**." I commanded so vehemently that for once, I forced Lydia around. She instantly gave up and even looked a little _frightened._ Mario and Luigi started backing away from me as well. "What?" I asked. "We could-a literally FEEL power-a coming out of you both." Mario and Luigi simultaneously explained. "When-a you got really angry, your power increased dramatically." "The Orbs! They must be increasing our power!" I realized. "I thought they would just give us abilities, but I guess they actually do give off power as well."

"Master Mario! Master Luigi! Nydall! Are you there?" Toadworth speculated. "Yeah, we are!" We all informed. "Well, based on the Orbs you have right now, I suggest you go to the Leaf Temple, also referred to as the Grass Temple. The Death Orb can kill the protective plants guarding the entrance." Toadworth instructed. "Alright. Thanks for the advice!" I appreciated. "Well, what are we-a waiting for? LET'S A GO!" Mario trademarked.


	12. Ch 12 : Mowing the Grass Temple

**Chapter 12: Mowing the Grass Temple**

**Author's Note: Sorry I posted this so late.**

As Lydia and I followed the Mario Bros. to our destination, I'm happy to say that nothing incidental happened between Lydia and I. For once, I seemed to be rid of her constant tackling and forcing me around. After we travelled for a little while, Mario decided to walk over and start a conversation. "Uhh… so I-a heard that you-a are afraid of-a being in relationships and being a bad date. Why?" "Well, technically I didn't let Lydia hear all of it or I would've probably been chased even after you guys rescued me. I didn't let Lydia hear about my being afraid of dating _her_ and being a bad date to _her_ because I didn't want to be imprisoned because I knew that she would probably end up doing just that." I whispered back. "Oh, not even-a Luigi had it that-a bad!" Mario bellowed. "Not so loud, Lydia will hear!" I muttered back. "Sorry." Mario regretted. "Hey! You there!" an unfamiliar voice shouted. I looked around and tried to locate the voice, but couldn't. "IT'S NO USE LOOKING FOR ME! I'M WELL HIDDEN! BWAHAHAHA-" I immediately located the sound and wrapped it up with my tongue. I retraced my tongue to find… a Paratroopa with a horn. "Okay, you found me. Now try to deal with my comrades!" she exclaimed.

As she blew her horn, many paratroopas appeared out of nowhere. Thinking quickly, I reached into my bag and brought out two Gold flowers. I tossed one to Lydia "Here! Don't let them catch you off guar-" A smack in the face interrupted my thoughts. I shrunk and then shouted "I'M A YOSHI! WHY AM I SHRINKING!?" as I consumed the Gold Flower. I knocked out the Paratroopa ahead of me with a Gold Fireball, netting us 5 coins. Mario and Luigi had already cleared their batch and were coming over to help. Lydia appeared to be holding her own, so I let loose a flurry of Gold Balls on the Paratroopas ahead of me. As they were knocked out, one by one, I realized that perhaps the Mario Bros. had helped me more than I had helped them. It was then that a giant Paratroops rose out of the sky.

"I bet you weren't expecting a Paratroopa with both a Mega Mushroom and Megastar!" Their voice boomed as it passed over us. "You might be right, but two can play that game!" I retored as I ate both items and grew to their size. "Hey, you can't do that! I thought only _we_ brought them with us!" the Paratroopa screamed in disbelief. I yelled down at Mario and Luigi "Hey, can you throw me some Copy Berries?" As they obliged, I quickly ate them to ensure that they didn't get stolen. The paratroopa saw their chance and attempted to punch me, only to be dodged. "You're in for it now!" I hollered as I split into two, and then three, eventually reaching seven clones. My clones pinned them down on their back as I stomped their shell. I quickly kicked said shell in the direction of the Grass Temple (which I could now see) and watched as it blazed a trail, bounced off, and hit the Paratroopa square in the face, breaking the shell and knocking them out. As we returned to normal size, Luigi congratulated me "Good job! You-a literally cleared the way to the temple!" "It's nothing." I modestly replied. "I just saw an opportunity and took it."

"Like this?! Now I can be anywhere and you won't know where I am!" Lydia shouted. I looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. I quickly suggested "Maybe we should head for the temple." A few seconds after we started walking I heard a THUMP! On the ground behind me, followed by Lydia's "Ow!" I then realized that she was up to her old antics again. I started running as fast as I could, only to slam into the temple wall. "When did we get so close to the temple?" I mused aloud. As I rolled and got up, I heard another THUMP! "Cut it out already, Lydia." I ultimated. I looked for the telltale inscription, but there was none. Instead, the door spelled out it's instructions in its unbreakable vine: "To enter, you must have a valid Orb and a plant organism shared by two." I searched through my bag and found a Fire Flower. I also got out the Life and Death Orbs. "Lydia, I'm going to need your help on this o-" I was interrupted by being tackled. "Finally!" Lydia joyously roared.

I quickly realized what was coming. I didn't even know where it was going to come from. I felt, rather than saw, lips touch mine. I tried to pull away, only to find out I was being held into the kiss by Lydia. I tried to speak, but it came out as garbled speaking. Finally, mercifully, she let go of me and I backed away, right into the temple wall again. "This will never end, will it?" I questioned. "Wait, don't answer that. Anyway, I need your help, Lydia. Especially after you just force-kissed me for the thousandth time." "Sure! Anything, now that I can sneak up on you-I mean convince you to be my boy- I mean scout ahead." Lydia beamed back. "Yeah, scouting, riiiiiight. Anyway, I need you to focus the Life Orb on me. I'm going to use the Death Orb and _our _(I made sure to emphasize this, as I knew it was the key to get in.) Fire Flower to gain entrance." Lydia agreed and focused the Life Orb's power on me. I quickly balanced it out with the Death Orb to prevent any side effects. I then focused the Death Orb on the vines while throwing the Fire Flower at them. The vines quickly wilted and the Fire Flower planted itself in its place.

"Well, now that that's over, I think we can put the Orbs away now." I suggested. I tractor-beamed the Death Orb and Life Orb into the backpack. "Let's enter this temple and- WOAH!" I had entered the temple to once again come to face danger at the entrance. "Hey Mario, can I get a little help? Giant piranha plant ahead!" I wondered. Mario responded by spin-tailing said plant. I looked ahead and my eyes widened as I saw hundreds of piranha plants about the same time. "It's-a going to take forever to clear these out!" Mario complained. "Yeah, there's-a no way we can do this-a quickly." Luigi added. "We used up all of our Invincible Starmen on-a the path there." "Don't worry, it only takes one Starman as long as multiple people are touching, right?" I inquired. "Yeah, but where are we-a to get one?" Mario answered. I quickly searched my bag and brought out an Invincibility Star. I beckoned for Mario, Luigi, and Lydia to touch me, hoping that Lydia wouldn't try anything funny. Luckily, I felt her hand on my arm. I used the Invincibility Star and it quickly transferred its power between us and made us... Well, invincible.

As we ripped through the Piranha plants, I spotted the exit at about 90 degrees from the entrance. I rushed towards it and found that my star was wearing off. Mario and Luigi were present. I felt Lydia jump on top of my head and sit there. Satisfied that we were all there, I entered the small room of the Orb only to find it bound with vines. "Nydall! I forgot to tell you something!" Toadworth's voice rang out of nowhere. "Orbs don't work in the respective temples." "Oh, that's _nice_. Thanks for the info Toadsworth!" I returned. "Hmm… I don't have any ideas." Luigi shrugged. "Me neither." Mario admitted. "Well, I've got nothing as well." I voiced. "Well, we could always try eating the vines. We _are_ Yoshis, after all." Lydia offered as her stolen invisibility faded. "Fine, but don't try anything." I accepted.

As we ate the vines one by one, the Mario Bros. guarded the entrance in case any of the remaining Piranha Plants could walk. When the final vine was revealed, I made sure not to reach out my tongue for it. Lydia didn't eat it either and it just stood there. It was like we were having a staring contest, only with our mouths. Finally, I gave in and reached out my tongue for the vine. Lydia immediately shot out her tongue toward mine. I retracted my tongue, only for her to do the same. To prevent her from trying to grab my tongue, I jumped on the chest. It turns out it didn't matter, though. Lydia must've had some amazing reflexes, because as soon as I stuck my tongue out for the vine hers reached out and grabbed my tongue. Luckily I was able to swallow the vine, but I was stuck in a predicament. Lydia had knotted her tongue to mine! Slowly she pulled me toward her with it.

I tried and tried again to get myself loose, but this was a very secure knot. I then had an idea. I strained every one of my jaw and neck muscles, but slowly I lifted Lydia up and slammed her into the ground in the opposite direction. "Thet herths, buth I'm sthill thot lething go." Lydia responded. I repeated my action, but to no avail. Closer and closer she dragged herself to me. I eventually worked my tongue out of her grip, only for her to knot it around mine again. I realized that if I extended my tongue, there was nothing she could do about it, and did just that. What Lydia did next really surprised me. She started putting my tongue in her mouth! As if my tongue touching hers wasn't weird enough, I now was being pulled in by my own tongue! I started panicking and motioned for help. Mario and Luigi tried to pull my tongue along with me, but Lydia simply knocked them back. We were now inches away and sweat started forming on my face. "No. This can't keep happening!" I put my arms out in front of me to attempt to stop her from closing in. I actually pushed her a few inches away before she grabbed my arms.

If I was panicking before, my mind had now entered a state of emergency. I _did not_ want to be forced to kiss again. I kept pulling away from her, but that only caused her to pull harder, making us close in faster. I realized my only hope was the now-unlocked chest and rested my nearly-depleted tongue on it, using all of my weight to pull my tongue downwards. It worked! My tongue slowly but surely started working its way out of Lydia's mouth. I even was able to work out of the knot and escape! It felt great for my tongue to be back in my mouth, although I admit it tasted a little gross because of Lydia's saliva being on it. "Nydall, you _know_ what I said earlier, so just give up." Lydia attempted to intimidate. "Not on your life! It's time for once that you _don't_ get what you want!" I yelled as I opened up the Leaf chest. I found the Orb sitting inside with a few weak vines inside. I easily broke them and put the Grass Orb into my backpack. "Alright, another Orb!" I expressed with exuberance. "Yeah, we-a did it!" Mario trumpeted. "Nydall, watch out!" Luigi warned.

I dodged Lydia's tongue as it attempted to grab me. I quickly dashes out of the Leaf Temple and into the evening sun. I realized it was about to get dark and had just enough time to set up the brick block house before Lydia grabbed me with her tongue. "I _will_ geth whath I wanth!" Lydia bellowed with determination. As I attempted to wriggle free, her tongue wriggled into my mouth again. I reacted almost instantaneously, attempting to manuever my tongue to dodge her tongue. It was a weird feeling, having a battle inside my mouth. Eventually she caught my tongue and started pulling us tpgether, this time going incredibly fast. Before I even had time to react, she finished pulling me in and was holding me in place. She was _literally_ pressing my head against hers! Try as I might, I couldn't escape! My cheeks once again started to glow bright red. When she (finally) released my tongue and head, I started running inside my house and immediately sat down.

"How many times have I told you to _stop!?_" I shouted at Lydia. "Countless times." Lydia responded. "Then tell me, why don't you listen?!" I growled. "I told you, your eyes seem to light up when I do it and you seem to always be curious." Lydia countered. "Yeah, curious on how to keep away from it! My eyes only brighten up when I am able to pull away." I huffed back. "Well then, let's test that." Lydia offered and started to take her tongue out again. "No. First of all it's getting dark, and secondly I'm not interested…._ever._" I rebutted. "Oh, _someday_ I know you'll end up seeing it my way." Lydia assured. "I know you will."

"Hey, while you-a guys were arguing we decided to get better-a bedding." Mario butted in. "Hey, thanks!" I talked. "It's-a ok, it's the least we can-a do for letting us be on-a your adventure" Luigi replied. As we laid down for the night, I heard Lydia attempting to scoot closer. "Don't even think about it." I commanded, only for her to _completely_ ignore me anyway. She put her arm around me again and I threw it off. We kept repeating this until finally I gave in and let her keep her arm around me. As I drifted off to sleep, I heard a faint "No matter what it takes, Nydall, you _will_ like me."


	13. Ch 13: Plant-Based Meals For Celebration

**Chapter 13: Plant-Based Meals For Celebration**

**Note: Nydall's thoughts are now going to be in italics.**

As I woke up, I saw that it was dark in the brick block house. I stealthily pushed my way out of Lydia's arm and plodded outside, only to see that the sun was only now just rising. I heard a whisper in my pocket from none other than Toadsworth: "Nydall. Masters Mario and Luigi! Are you there?" "Only me, I'm afraid. Why are you whispering at this time? It's 5 or six in the morning!" I muttered back. "I heard you get up and I'm a very light sleeper. Anyway, you can use the Grass Orb to open either the Earth or Water temples. It's your decision." Toadworth supplied. "Alright, I'll probable tackle the Water Temple next. That way we can get a handle on all of the powers instead of using one twice." I opted. "Pray tell, what do you plan on doing these next few hours?" Toadsworth wanted to know. "Well, I have absolutely no idea. I guess I'll get some breakfast for everyone." I replied.

I started plodding out and realized that I didn't want to leave without Mario and Luigi knowing where I went. I quickly started eating the grass (which tasted disgusting. Even the vines weren't that horrible!) in a pattern of letters forming a note reading _I'm going to be gone awhile gathering food. –Nydall_. As I walked through the forested area, I looked for anything edible in the vicinity. There appeared to be nothing, not even Copy Berries. _D***! I _need _to find food!_ I thought to myself.

After about 5-10 minutes of searching, I finally found an apple tree. _Awesome!_ I thought, relieved that I had finally found something to eat. I double float-jumped into one of the rough branches of the tree and started picking apples. As I put more apples into my Magic Backpack, it started weighing heavier and heavier. _Interesting_, I thought. _My backpack never gained weight with the house. Maybe weight only applies with food?_ When my backpack had about 20-30 lbs of weight, I jumped down. I now saw that the sun was about 30-40 degrees in the sky, which meant that it was still early morning and therefore I had plenty of time.

I started walking back to the brick block house only to find that my path had been completely blocked by 5 or 6 Whomps. "What do you want?" I questioned them. "You're obviously a Yoshi. Therefore we won't let you pass!" their gravelly voices rang in unison. "Bring it on, I'm not afraid!" I blurted back. As one tried to trample me, I dodged and landed on top of their back. I quickly executed a ground pound, and was rid of them. Another almost smashed his way on top of me due to his unnatural reflexes, but I quickly pushed them off and punched their back, causing them to knock out. The others then tried to pile on me simultaneously. I quickly float-jumped out of their reach and pounded them into the ground.

I resumed my trip back to the brick block house, making sure that I was stealthier than before. I didn't want to be noticed be any more enemies so I could get back and serve breakfast. I eventually made it back to the cabin to see Mario and Luigi on top of a few trees. Lydia was nowhere to be seen, which worried me. I shouted up to the brothers "Hey! Why are you guys up in that tree?" "We were-a looking for you, Nydall! We found your grass-a note, but Lydia wasn't convinced and decided to go off on her own." Luigi replied. "Yeah, we-a saw her go off in your direction while-a having her nose to the ground. She was probably-a sniffing you out or something." Mario explained. _Oh no. She could be anywhere close to me right now_. I thought to myself. I quickly ran inside to avoid any possible tackling and beckoned for the Mario Bros. to come in along the way.

"Well, did you-a gather anything? I'm a little hungry." Mario wondered. "Yeah, me-a too." Luigi agreed. "Yeah, I could use something to eat" Lydia's voice rang out from behind me, scaring the stuffing out of me. "Lydia! Don't scare me like that!" I screamed in frustration. In reaction, she hugged me. I slipped out of her hug and started digging around for the apples I found. I brought out a few pounds for everyone. "It's definitely not varied, but it's all I could find. Eat up!" I offered. As we all ate, I explained what had happened since I had woken up.

"Yeah, we're going to the Water Temple next, I guess." I finished. As we finished our breakfast of apples I took apart the cores and planted their seeds I the ground outside of the house. "There, now tons of trees can grow here." I stated to no one in particular. "Anyway, is there anything we need to do around here?" "No, there doesn't seem to-a be anything." Luigi answered. "In that case…" I responded, waiting for Mario to fill me in. "Let's-a go!" Mario commented. And so we went.


	14. Ch 14: A Fishy Trick

**Chapter 14 : A Fishy Trick**

As we trekked out of the forest and along the landscape, I decided to keep my eye out for any lakes that may appear. I figured the Marios knew what they were doing, but I had a hunch that the temple was in a lake. Lydia was up to her usual tricks, however I managed to elude all of them this time around due to her already having used them. _Weird,_ I thought. _Usually she doesn't let me off so easily._ I wondered what was going on inside that head of hers when I accidentally bumped into Mario, causing us both to fall. "Sorry. I was a little lost in thought." I apologized. "It's-a ok. We're-a here! Sort of." Mario forgave. I looked out beyond the beach ahead of us and my suspicions were confirmed: The Water Temple was beneath water, in the 3 dimensional center of the lake.

I immediately was concerned about drowning. "Mario, won't we drown down there?" I expressed. "Don't-a worry, I brought Frog Suits for everyone!" Mario replied. Mario drew them from hammerspace (you know, that one area where anything a fictional character holds goes to, has unlimited space?) and had each of us put one on. "Thanks, Mario!" Lydia and I voiced simultaneously.

As we swam under the water I noticed that Lydia was very close to me and I started to swim away from her. She kept trying to come closer and these processes repeated until we reached the entrance to the Water Temple. There was a notice which read: "To proceed, the two who are destined to get this orb must share their air." I reflexively covered the notice up and started blushing. There was no way I was going to be forced to kiss Lydia again! Mario bubbled "Hey, Nydall, why are-a you covering up-a that sign?" "Well…I….um…" I stumbled. Lydia used my distractedness to pry my hand off of the notice and read it herself. I swear she started glowing in that water. "Because Nydall probably isn't sure he can handle this one." Lydia teased while winking at me. "No, I'm completely sure I _can't_ handle this one!" I confirmed. "There's got to be another way!"

Lydia started closing in on me as I struggled to wrap my head around what co9uld very possibly be irony at its greatest. "Fine. I guess you win. Mario, Luigi, please turn away if you don't want to see me cry after this." I pleaded. As Lydia closed in and, well, shared her air with me, the door to the Water Temple opened. I immediately pulled away and rushed inside. It was then that I thought of the Grass Orb and "D'oh"ed. As I saw the inside of the temple, I blurted "Woah! You guys might wanna come and check this out." As Mario and company drew themselves up, I pointed to a 30 feet by 30 feet by 30 feet pool of water with spike fish and barely any room in said water. "Oh no! How are we-a supposed to-a get across?" Luigi desired to identify. "I have an idea, but we'll have to take out Frog Suits off and save them for later."

As we took our Frog Suits off, I told my plan to the group. "Alright, I have a Super Mario Galaxy Ice Flower. If we absorb it's power together and use its ice to freeze the water below us, we can get across!" I explained. "Nice idea! What happens when it runs out?" Lydia questioned. "Well, I have multiple, so I think we're covered." I informed. As we executed my plan, I sensed a disturbance in the water beside us. Moments later, a gigantic fish leaped out of the water straight as me! I kicked it on its wide open lip, sending it back into the water.

When we reached our destination, the Ice Flower wore off. I slowly walked up and opened the Ice chest to find that the Water Orb was there. I opened up my Magic Backpack and tractor-beamed it inside. "Alright, is everyone here?" I wondered. "Yeah!" Mario exclaimed. "Okay-dokey!" Luigi exuberated. To my surprise, Lydia wasn't there! I thought of where she could've been lost and rapidly my mind came to the conclusion that Lydia was being eaten by that fish! "Hurry! We have to go get Lydia!" I shouted in anguish. We needed Lydia. As much as I hated so say it, I had actually warmed up to Lydia in a way.

As we equipped the other SMG Ice Flower and raced across the ice, I saw Lydia with her head inside of the very same fish. It was frozen, quite literally! I rushed over to her and lifted her up, carrying her by her head and legs to the exit. As we ran on to the exit, the Ice Flower wore off. I immediately started digging into my backpack for a Fire Flower to thaw the fish into water with. When I equipped it and started using its power the fish melted off of Lydia's head, just as I thought it would. Lydia appeared to be knocked out. _Fudge, she might be dying!_ I remarked to myself. I recalled my CPR lessons and started to do mouth-to-mouth.

Eventually Lydia sat straight up and started giggling, then laughing her a** off. "I fooled you!" She hooted. As my cheeks turned beet red, I warned "Don't **_EVER_** do that again. I actually thought you were dying!" Lydia retorted "You should've seen the look on your face! Oh man, I thought you would've _fainted!_" I sighed and began to put on my Frog Suit. "Wait, I still owe you something for at least attempting to save me!" Lydia reprimanded. "If it's anything like your past-"I didn't even get to finish my sentence before my suspicions were confirmed by Lydia lunging for me. My reflexes were fast enough to dodge her and dive into the water. As I made my way to the beach, I looked back and saw Mario, Luigi, and lastly Lydia following me.

Thinking that I was out of Lydia's reach for now, I hopped onto the beach and took off my Frog Suit. Moments later, however, my thoughts were proven wrong when her tongue wrapped around me multiple times. I turned around and saw that Lydia had to be at least 100 feet away, _How…_ I started to ponder. It then hit me that frogs tended to have pretty long tongues. Combine the frog's tongue length with the Yoshi's and… well, this. I easily wiggled free of Lydia's tongue due to it being so long that it didn't have much strength to it and began to dash away from the beach. I climbed a nearby palm tree in an effort to keep Lydia from using her frog-tongue from grabbing me again. Luckily, it worked.

As they worked their way onto the beach, Luigi thought aloud "Hey, when do you think we'll hear from Toadsworth again?" while they took of their Frog Suits. As if on cue, Toadworth spoke from his device "Sooner than you think, Master Luigi! Nydall, it seems that we have a problem. Remember the choice you made? It seems that even if you went after the Earth and Fire temples, you would still not be able to use all of the powers of the Orbs." "Yeah, I know. Just now, we didn't have to use the Grass Orb entering the Water Temple (although I wish I would have thought of it)." I answered. "I'm going to guess we're going after the Earth Temple next?" "Indeed, Nydall. Your deduction almost never fails you, does it?" Toadsworth praised. "I'm not so sure." I modestly shrugged the comment off. "After all, I did make the mistake of not including the Electricity Temple in my basis and the fact that the last orb would have remained unused, which coincidentally happens to also be that orb." "Well, aren't you the humble one! Well, I won't trouble you longer than I need to. Good luck on your quest" Toadsworth remarked as we started our journey to the Earth Temple.


	15. Ch 15: Earth Bound

**Chapter 15: Earth Bound**

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, I've been pretty sick over the past few days. :/**

As we set out for the Earth Temple, I decided to look out for anything strange in the rock formations. _Hopefully the Earth Temple doesn't try to pull any trick-_ I barely stopped myself from going headlong into a chasm. "I almost forgot!" Toadsworth shouted. "The Earth Temple is surrounded by almost impassable earth foundations. It will take teamwork to get over them." I searched my bag, only to find that we didn't have enough P-wings for the group. I then had an idea. "Hey Mario and Luigi! Can you wait for us by the temple's entrance, wherever that is? I have an idea for how Lydia and I can manage on our own." "Good thinking, Nydall!" Toadsworth complimented. "Meh, it's an everyday thing when you're adventuring." I shrugged it off.

"Okey-dokey! See-a you later!" Mario shouted as he and Luigi took off toward the sky until they were dots. I then looked directly at Lydia. "I'm going to need your help. Can you do the double jump of the Yoshis?" I questioned Lydia. "Sure. Is there any reason why I shouldn't?" Lydia wondered. "No, actually I was hoping you did. What I'm thinking is that maybe we could take turns jumping off of each other and double jumping, then using our arms to hoist each other up. If all goes well, it'll be like we have a P-wing." "I trust you, Nydall." Lydia almost immediately agreed, and we were off.

As we crossed the chasm, I looked ahead to see a number of mountains and chasms ahead of us. I realized how arduous a task this actually could be and that we would never get to the Earth Temple this way. I thought of the P-Acorns in our bag. After we landed on the other side of the chasm, I chucked a P-acorn to Lydia. As we absorbed the power-ups, Lydia asked "Why this powerup?" "We can easily catch up to the Mario Bros. this way." I responded.

We took off with our undying winds below us and I looked for Mario and Luigi, only to be hit in the head with a nut. "Cut it out, Lydia!" I fumed. "Hey, that wasn't me! Stop hopping to conclusions!" Lydia retorted. Ahead of us was about 20 or so flying squirrels. "Normally we wouldn't dare attack anybody affiliated with the Mario Bros., but you're after the Orb! Attack!" Their leader shouted. I dodged acorn after acorn, wondering how we could solve our predicament.

Lydia came up with a solution before I could. She grabbed the nearest acorn heading toward her and threw it back. When I saw how Lydia was counterattacking, I made like a monkey and copied her. Pretty soon we were driving them off. One by one, we stomped the squirrels and knocked them out. A floating chest appeared out of nowhere, and a Toad popped out. "Hey, Toad, do you have any idea where the Earth Temple Entrance is?" I pondered out loud. "It's over there, below you to your west." Toad pointed out. "Thanks! Do you want a ride?" I replied. "Okay. You guys are awesome!" Toad thanked. We all sarted looking for the Mario Bros. and the Earth Temple entrance.

The only problem was that the winds took us so high that we could barely see the ground. I dove a little bit below cloud level and Lydia followed suit. I looked to see a gaping chasm and no Mario Bros. I went in for a landing and found a note: "The Princess has been kidnapped. We decided to help her out. Don't worry, we'll be back soon! –Mario Bros." _That's a little weird. I guess they have their duties, though_. I thought to myself. "There you go, Toad." I dropped him off and he jumped down a red pipe. I took a minute to examine a note left in the ground. "To cross you must hit the two switches on the other side at the same time. Power-ups will not work here." It declared.

I decided to dig out the Grass Orb. Lydia saw what I was doing and rushed over to help. As Lydia focused the Orb's energy on me, I used the power to grow thick vines on the shape of a bridge over to where the two levers were located. We travelled over the large vines over to the switches. Lydia bellowed "On three, okay?! One, Two, Three!" and threw the switch right as I did. As the Earth Door opened, I wondered what challenges lied ahead for us.


End file.
